Hogmanay

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. Scots The eve of New Year's Day, on which children traditionally go from house to house asking for presents.

n. Scots A present requested or given on this day.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

proper n. New Year's Eve.

proper n. A celebration or gift for New Year's Eve.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. The old name, in Scotland, for the last day of the year, on which children go about singing, and receive a dole of bread or cakes; also, the entertainment given on that day to a visitor, or the gift given to an applicant.

But the thing about it is, it is known that it came from northern France -- from Normandy, Brittany, from the very Celtic region for France -- and that there is a ceremony, an event very similar to it in Scotland and in Ireland, called the Hogmanay, that happens around New Year's, when they sing a song that is similar to the Guillanée.

The writer of the last account speaks of the "breast-strip" as the "Hogmanay," and it is just possible that the well-known Hogmanay processions of children on New Year's Eve (in Scotland and elsewhere) may have some connection with the ritual above described.

It is customary for the poorer children to swaddle themselves in a great sheet, doubled up in front so as to form a vast pocket, and then go along the streets in little bands, calling out "Hogmanay" at the doors of the wealthier classes, and expecting a dole of oaten bread.

In some parts it was called "The Galatians," to be sure, I say was, because one never sees it now-a-days, though fifty years ago, under the one designation or the other, it was played annually by the Hogmanay guizards, who, dressed for the occasion, set it forth with deliciously unsophisticated swagger and bluster in every house they visited that had a kitchen floor broad and wide enough for the operation.

But it is in Scotland that the advent of the new year, or Hogmanay is kept with the most hilarity; the Scotch by their extra rejoicings at this time, seem to wish to make up for their utter neglect of Christmas.